All Salvation Is Temporary - The Sacrifice That Bought Her A Year
by Not Just A Reader - A Fangirl
Summary: Augustus Waters' death wasn't a coincidence. His cancer didn't simply choose to pop back up after 14 months of being absent from his body. There was a reason Augustus Waters died. This is why. Percy Jackson/TFIOS Crossover. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR FEELS BEING BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR.


_**A/N: Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeee, happy birthday to me.**_

_**Like I promised when I posted Quidditch - With A Twist, here is a fantastic, feels-tastic, crossover fix for y'all in honour of my birthday!**_

_**It will break your feels, I guarantee you that.**_

_**Good luck**__** - I mean, enjoy!**_

—

"_Gus, I'm a grenade."_

It nearly broke him right there. It was a near miracle in itself that he managed to keep the wall of personality he had made for Augustus Waters from crumbling.

She didn't want to hurt him. He didn't know what he thought. Of course she wouldn't want to hurt him. But maybe he just thought she wouldn't have thought of it. But of course she has. She's diagnosed with cancer. She probably spends a large part of her time trying not to hurt the people she loves and the people who loves her. But he didn't think she cared enough about him, about _Augustus Waters_, to want to spare him the hurt.

Maybe she cared because Augustus had already had one cancerous girlfriend. Is that why? Because she wanted to spare him the hurt? To make sure he - _Gus_ - didn't have to go through the pain again?

_No, _he wanted to scream. He didn't need that. He had had lovers before — albeit, none that was sick — but all of them had died. He had gone through that pain. He could go through it again. If pain was the inevitable result to spending time with her, then so be it. Maybe, just maybe, the unavoidable could be avoidable, somehow; or at least, detained. Maybe she…

Could she? Was it possible? It was, wasn't it? Can't he do something about it; can't his powers? Can't anyone else?

He stood up, decided. He summoned up his magical transport, turned it into a motorbike, hopped on and started the engine. He felt determination settle in as the motorbike rose up into the sky, invisible to the mortal eyes. Apollo turned it towards the place where he knew the only being that could heal her had taken up residence.

—

His son looked at him with pity and regret in his eyes.

"You want me to heal her?" Asclepius said.

"Yes," Apollo answered, his voice spiralling into the void of desperation now. "Your healing talents surpasses Chiron's, and even mine. Can you not do anything to help her?"

Asclepius looked away, shaking his head slightly. He examined the writing on his magical computer, which was able to access every medical record on Earth. The screen was currently displaying Hazel's record from the Children's.

"She is very close to Hades' door, my lord Apollo," he said. "She doesn't have much time left."

Apollo felt like each of the gods had taken a million turns hitting him with their most powerful weapons. He swallowed hard.

"How long?" he managed to croak out.

"Not very." The pitying look was back in Asclepius' eyes. "Half a year at the most."

Apollo closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he opened them, he knew there was desperation there.

"There must be a way."

"I'm sorry, my lord, but I cannot do anything. I am not allowed to."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a rule, my lord, that if the affected is already on their way to Hades' realm, we are not allowed to hinder their journey," Asclepius said. "And she is too far gone."

"But not completely."

"But too far along the road."

Asclepius watched as Apollo turned away, burying his face in his hands then running them through his shaggy blonde hair. He seemed to really love this girl. Maybe…Maybe it wouldn't be such a drastic decision to tell him. It was a last resort, after all, and the gods knows that Apollo would take any offer right now.

"My lord," he said.

Apollo made a noncommittal moan, his eyes still closed and his face buried in his hands.

"There is…another way."

Apollo snapped around, eyes alert.

"What way?"

"You must know, my lord," Asclepius warned. "It might not cure her completely. If Tyche is generous, it just might. But it might only give her some more time."

Apollo seemed to consider this, eyebrows drawing in and mouth pinching together. But he didn't hesitate too long.

"All salvation is temporary." He sounded bitter and regretful, and Asclepius thought he could hear a mocking irony in his voice. "How?"

"You - You have to hurt her."

"Hurt?" Apollo's eyes could have replaced Ares' and they wouldn't look a bit out of place. "She's in so much pain already, she can't do anything without dragging that infernal machine around, she's been in the ICU countless times, she nearly _died_, and you want me to make her go through even MORE of that torture on her body?"

Asclepius almost regretted it.

"My lord," he said hastily. "You misunderstand me. I did not mean hurt her physically."

"What did you mean then?"

Asclepius watched the anger dissipate from Apollo's eyes, replaced by confusion mixed with the ever-present desperation.

"You have to hurt her _emotionally_."

—

"Look who's here."

Annabeth looked towards the direction Thalia had pointed. Sitting on one of the benches in one of the many parks at the recreated Olympus (designed by Annabeth herself), was the carefree, upbeat, laid back, slightly vain and egotistical god of music, poetry, healing, archery and the Sun, Apollo himself. Except he didn't look carefree or laid back now. He was slumped on the marble bench, his chin in one of his hands which was resting on his knee, his other hand tangled in his hair.

"He looks depressed," Annabeth stated.

"He does too, doesn't he?" Thalia agreed. "So, are we going over and finding out if the depressed display is a ruse to get with the goddesses up here, or are we ignoring said ruse and continuing with our work?"

"I think the former," Annabeth said. "It doesn't look like a ruse."

Thalia made a noncommittal _hmm _noise, but nevertheless the two friends walked over to the moping god.

"Hello, Apollo."

The mentioned god lifted his head. Annabeth supposed Thalia should have been more courteous, seeing as Apollo _was _a god, an Olympian, even if he never acted like one. But that was never Thalia's style.

"Hello, girls."

After that vague and totally un-Apollo-like greeting, Apollo resumed staring into space again.

"Is something wrong, Apollo?" Annabeth asked, feeling slightly worried by his unusual behaviour.

"Why would you think something's wrong?"

"Well," Thalia started before Annabeth could say anything. "One, you're not flirting with us. Two, you're not flashing that damn grin at us. And three, you're not making any comment about said grin."

"What Thalia meant to say," Annabeth said, glaring at Thalia's "what?-I-didn't-do-anything" face, "is that you're not acting like you normally do. You look depressed."

"Do I?"

"Oh, good," Thalia jumped in again. "He's starting to go back to his normal self. Any second now he'll be going on about how looking depressed doesn't suit him."

Annabeth glared at Thalia again.

"Yes, Apollo," she said. "You do look depressed. So what's wrong? Tell us, and maybe we can help."

"Unless it's some godly thing," Thalia said. "Then we are powerless, quite literally."

Annabeth's eyes were starting to ache, so she decided to opt for shaking her head exasperatedly instead of glaring at Thalia again.

Apollo didn't respond for a long time.

"How would you hurt a girl?" he said suddenly.

"What?"

"How would you hurt a dying girl?"

"Why would you want to hurt a dying girl?" Annabeth was seriously concerned about Apollo's sanity now.

Apollo gave a long sigh.

"It's like this," he said, and then he explained. He explained how he had taken a mortal form and fallen in love with a girl diagnosed with cancer, how she dying and he wants to cure her, and the only way he could.

"So you have to hurt her?"

"Yes."

"You don't want to, do you?"

"Why in Tartarus would I want to hurt the girl I love?"

"Aside from the fact that it will help her?"

Apollo sighed again. Annabeth glared again.

Annabeth looked down at the miserable god, so different from the carefree god that had the power to destroy her three years ago, after the battle at Mount Tam. She felt so sorry for him, for his predicament. She could imagine his pain; she could even sympathise somewhat. If something happened to Percy — If he was to fall sick, and the only way she could help him was to emotionally wound him… Annabeth supposed she would be just as miserable as Apollo was right now.

"Annabeth?"

The young demigod turned her attention back to Apollo again.

"Yes?"

"What could Percy do that would hurt you?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you know love," Apollo answered. "You're in love with him."

Annabeth could feel herself blushing. Apollo cracked a small smile for the first time that day.

"Don't try to deny it," he said. "Anyone can see that you two are absolutely head over heels in love with each other. So it would hurt you if he—if he what?"

"I don't know."

"If he dumped you?" Thalia offered.

"…Yes."

They turned to Apollo.

"I don't think I can handle that," Apollo said, shaking his head. "That would break me as much as it does her."

"If he cheated on you?" Thalia asked Annabeth, who shrugged and nodded, although Thalia noticed her eyebrows pulled down ever so slightly.

Apollo rolled his eyes.

"I can't break up with her," he said. "And you think I can muster up enough nerve to cheat on her. Or even stage it?"

"True," Thalia agreed.

"What if…" Annabeth began, a bit hesitant as she herself was scared of the situation she was about to propose. "What if something happened to you, instead of you doing something to her?"

Thalia looked at her quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I would be pretty distressed if Percy was…hurt. Physically. If he was in pain," Annabeth said. She caught Apollo's eyes. "Or worse."

She saw understanding blossom in his jaded blue eyes. He nodded once, slowly.

"Thank you, Annabeth."

Apollo stood up and strode away. He knew what he had to do.

—

**A/N: I told you.**

**I thought this idea was pretty ingenious, even if I do say so myself. I managed to get it down quickly, and I couldn't wait to get it up. One of my friends had been badgering me forever to get it up, so daughter of Poseidon, are you happy now? Maybe not, because I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this would be heartbroken right now.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading guys. I have a few ideas but you might not hear from me for a while. I'll try to write often. It seems I'm better at one-shots than I am at long stories though.**

**Leave a review! Bye!**


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